Youth Business Europe

In 2015, Youth Business International and Citi Foundation launched Youth Business Europe, a five-year regional programme to support young people to start, grow and sustain their business. Through this partnership, we worked with the Citi Foundation to tackle youth unemployment and drive sustainable economic growth across Europe.

Programme overview

The programme was designed to increase the number of vulnerable youth successfully starting sustainable businesses and creating new jobs. Through targeted country-level projects selected and implemented under a strategic learning agenda and rooted in cross-sector collaboration, the programme layed the foundation for a youth entrepreneurship ecosystem in selected countries across the region.

Our regional approach enabled 11 YBI member organisations to work closely together and share knowledge, best practices and methodologies with the aim of tackling youth unemployment in Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Programme Impact

Over the course of the programme, 11 members supported more than 38,000 young people to:

• Start or strengthen 11,000 businesses
• Create 8,000 new jobs

YBI members were able to expand their offerings and forge valuable new connections, and Citi employees reported multiple benefits from their involvement in the initiative.

Find out more about the programme and its impact below: